2503 First year medical student characteristics associated with readiness to talk about race

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Calls to break the silence around the effects of racism on health are growing. Few researchers have examined the relationship between medical student characteristics and students’ comfort, motivation, and skill to discuss racism. This paper examines medical student characteristics associated with readiness to talk about racism among first-year medical students at the University of Minnesota. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In February 2017 prior to a lecture on racism and health, we invited first year medical students to participate in a web-based survey about their experiences and comfort discussing racism. We calculated descriptive statistics and measured differences by student race (White vs. Asian vs. Black/multiracial/other) and undergraduate major type (STEM vs. non-STEM) using χ2 tests for variables with categorical responses and generalized linear regression models with pairwise comparisons (i.e., 2-sample t-tests) for variables with continuous responses. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: (n=107/163). The majority of students were male (53%); White (75%); and majored in STEM majors in college (85%). College major was not associated with race. Students’ responses to multiple items suggest that the vast majority perceived racial inequality as a major problem in the United States. Race was significantly associated with only 1 of these items. Specifically, 100% (16/16) of Black/multiracial/other students [under-represented minority (URM) students] reported “too little attention” is paid to race and racial issues, while only 53% of White students (42/79) and 55% of Asian students (6/11) chose this response. Students with non-STEM majors and students who identified as URM students reported talking about racism with friends more often than STEM majors and white students, respectively. In conversations about race at school, two-thirds of students were concerned that they might unintentionally offend others or be misunderstood. However, non-STEM majors and URM students were significantly less worried that they would unintentionally offend others in conversations about race at school than STEM majors and white students. Larger percentages of URM students (50%) than White students (25%) were afraid that others would not respect their views because of their race. White students were more afraid that they might that they would be called racist than URM students. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Many students find it challenging to discuss race and racism in medical education settings. URM students and non-STEM majors reported greater frequency talking about racism with friends and appear to be less anxious in conversations about racism than White students and STEM majors respectively. Given non-STEM majors' greater psychological safety discussing racism, future research should explore whether non-STEM majors are better prepared and more motivated to address racial disparities in health and health care than STEM majors. Such research could have important implications for medical school admissions.

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Are Future Doctors Prepared to Address Patients’ Nutritional Needs? Cooking and Nutritional Knowledge and Habits in Medical Students

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine ◽

10.1177/15598276211018165 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 155982762110181

Author(s):

Sam Sugimoto ◽

Drew Recker ◽

Elizabeth E. Halvorson ◽

Joseph A. Skelton

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Prior Knowledge ◽

The United States ◽

First Year ◽

Nutritional Knowledge ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Nutritional Needs ◽

Second Year ◽

First Year Medical Students

Background. Many diseases are linked to lifestyle in the United States, yet physicians receive little training in nutrition. Medical students’ prior knowledge of nutrition and cooking is unknown. Objective. To determine incoming medical students’ prior nutrition knowledge, culinary skills, and nutrition habits. Methods. A dual-methods study of first-year medical students. Cross-sectional survey assessing prior knowledge, self-efficacy, and previous education of cooking and nutrition. Interviews of second-year medical students explored cooking and nutrition in greater depth. Results. A total of 142 first-year medical students participated; 16% had taken a nutrition course, with majority (66%) learning outside classroom settings. Students had a mean score of 87% on the Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire versus comparison group (64.9%). Mean cooking and food skills score were lower than comparison scores. Overall, students did not meet guidelines for fiber, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Interviews with second-year students revealed most learned to cook from their families; all believed it important for physicians to have this knowledge. Conclusions. Medical students were knowledgeable about nutrition, but typically self-taught. They were not as confident or skilled in cooking, and mostly learned from their family. They expressed interest in learning more about nutrition and cooking.

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Do Contact and Empathy Mitigate Bias Against Gay and Lesbian People Among Heterosexual First-Year Medical Students? A Report From the Medical Student CHANGE Study

Academic Medicine ◽

10.1097/acm.0000000000000661 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 90 (5) ◽

pp. 645-651 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

Sara E. Burke ◽

John F. Dovidio ◽

Julia M. Przedworski ◽

Rachel R. Hardeman ◽

Sylvia P. Perry ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Gay And Lesbian ◽

First Year ◽

Student Change ◽

First Year Medical Students

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Can first-year medical students acquire quality improvement knowledge prior to substantial clinical exposure? A mixed-methods evaluation of a pre-clerkship curriculum that uses education as the context for learning

BMJ Quality & Safety ◽

10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007566 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (7) ◽

pp. 576-582 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Allison Brown ◽

Aditya Nidumolu ◽

Alexandra Stanhope ◽

Justin Koh ◽

Matthew Greenway ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Medical Students ◽

Health System ◽

Future Research ◽

First Year ◽

Clinical Scenarios ◽

First Year Medical Students ◽

The Impact

BackgroundQuality Improvement (QI) training for health professionals is essential to strengthen health systems. However, QI training during medical school is constrained by students’ lack of contextual understanding of the health system and an already saturated medical curriculum. The Program for Improvement in Medical Education (PRIME), an extracurricular offered at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicineat McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada), addresses these obstacles by having first-year medical students engage in QI by identifying opportunities for improvement within their own education.MethodsA sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, which combines insights derived from quantitative instruments and qualitative interview methods, was used to examine the impact of PRIME on first-year medical students and the use of QI in the context of education.ResultsThe study reveals that participation in PRIME increases both knowledge of, and comfort with, fundamental QI concepts, even when applied to clinical scenarios. Participants felt that education provided a meaningful context to learn QI at this stage of their training, and were motivated to participate in future QI projects to drive real-world improvements in the health system.ConclusionsEarly exposure to QI principles that uses medical education as the context may be an effective intervention to foster QI competencies at an early stage and ultimately promote engagement in clinical QI. Moreover, PRIME also provides a mechanism to drive improvements in medical education. Future research is warranted to better understand the impact of education as a context for later engagement in clinical QI applications as well as the potential for QI methods to be translated directly into education.

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Tobacco counseling experience prior to starting medical school, tobacco treatment self-efficacy and knowledge among first-year medical students in the United States

Preventive Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.02.003 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 119-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rui S. Xiao ◽

Rashelle B. Hayes ◽

Molly E. Waring ◽

Alan C. Geller ◽

Linda C. Churchill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

The United States ◽

First Year ◽

Counseling Experience ◽

Tobacco Treatment ◽

First Year Medical Students

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Narrowing expansive horizons: Experiences of first-year medical students and teaching faculty in a new multidirectional digital classroom for three- and four-year medical school programs

Journal of Regional Medical Campuses ◽

10.24926/jrmc.v2i4.2044 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Kristina Kaljo

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Central City ◽

First Year ◽

Digital Classroom ◽

Teaching Faculty ◽

First Year Medical Students

Introduction: To address the country’s shortage of primary care physicians and increasing medical student debt, the Medical College of Wisconsin matriculated students into accelerated 3-year campuses in Central City and Packer City, while maintaining its traditional 4-year campus in Brew City, Wisconsin. To ensure consistent content delivery within the basic science curriculum, students at all three campuses simultaneously participate in daily learning activities, utilizing distributed learning through a multidirectional digital classroom incorporating video-conferencing and audience response systems. Methods: To best uncover and understand the perspectives and attitudes of faculty and medical students, qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed framed within constructivist grounded theory. This framework is rooted in social processes of the participants lived experiences and views these experiences as paramount to the analysis and presentation. Prospectively, data was acquired regarding individual experiences from first-year medical students and medical school teaching faculty across the three campuses. Beginning in the 2015–2016 academic year, nine semi-structured focus groups were conducted with concluding surveys. These focus groups were separated by campus location: medical students at Brew City, medical students at Packer City, and faculty who taught at either the three-year regional campus or four-year campus. In winter 2017, the study expanded including one additional student-centered focus group in Central City. Each focus group was recorded using a hand-held device, transcribed, and analyzed using the constant comparative method. This inductive approach required close examination of the transcriptions and line-by-line analysis to assign codes that captured the emerging themes. To triangulate the data and further understand the medical student and faculty lived experiences, a concluding survey was distributed to participants. This survey included eight, seven-point Likert-scale questions to further ascertain experience and overall satisfaction with the new learning environment. Numerical data was analyzed with IBM® SPSS® 24. This study was approved by the institutions review board. Results: In 2015–16, Packer City students rated their overall learning experience significantly (d=0.74, p<.050) higher (mean (sd)=7.6 (0.6)) than students in Brew City (6.7; 1.6) and significantly higher (d=1.21, p<.034) than the faculty (6.0 (1.0)). During 2016–17, overall learning experience scores did not differ from those of the previous years for Packer City (D=0.0) or Brew City students (D=0.0). A comparison of scores across all three campuses in 2016–17 yielded a significant change (d=1.28, p<.037) between the Central City campus (mean (sd)=7.8 (1.1)) and the Brew City campus (6.7 (0.5). No significant changes were reported between Packer City and the other two campuses. Three overarching themes emerged from both the students and faculty throughout the study: (1) The construction of a knowledge-based community of practice, (2) responsiveness to diverse learning preference, and (3) how participants negotiated teaching and learning within the multidirectional digital classroom. Conclusion: These findings have the capacity to provide guidance when re-designing and facilitating medical school curricula and for learners who engage in new multidirectional digital environments. Regardless of teaching site, all educators must be mindful of students’ learning needs and recognize how the overall learning experience is influenced by faculty, physical environment, and the ways in which students interact with one another daily.

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GENDER DIFFERENCES IN FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS A DISCUSSION-ORIENTED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE COURSE

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.1988.16.1.65 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 65-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Howard B. Roback ◽

Pauline L. Rabin ◽

John E. Chapman

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Medical Students ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Future Research ◽

First Year ◽

Course Performance ◽

Control Female ◽

Future Research Directions ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

First Year Medical Students

The authors investigated gender differences among first year medical students' attitudes towards a discussion-oriented, Behavioral Science course, performance on an end of course essay, and locus of control. Female medical students generally evaluated the course more favorably than their male counterparts, and scored higher on the Rotter I-E scale (i.e., were more “external'). There were no gender differences in essay grades. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are suggested.

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